Maybe I should Go Back to Windows...

I noticed that lately I haven't been blogging as I used to back in 2010, when my Linux adventure started.

I've witnessed incredible changes.  Windows has actually started trying to imitate Linux, and Linux has been trying to imitate Windows.

MS Office is trying hard to keep its user base while LibreOffice is increasing its number of users... and the later is also trying to imitate MS Office (Yuk! The hideous ribbon!)

I've literally seen lots of cases in which the great Windows 10 has failed miserably (to run, to enable video/sound, to connect to the Web), along with MS Office being unable to open documents made with other versions of MS Office (and then humble LibreOffice comes to the rescue).

I've seen other people using Ubuntu in a professional environment without any hassle...

All that has been very interesting.

Still, something troubles me.

All these years using Linux (my initial distro is well dead now, along with many other I liked the most) have shown me something about myself.

As a Linux user, I totally suck.

Let me say it again.  I suck.

And I suck big time!

Seven years using Linux and I still don't have a clue using the CLI!

I remember the days when I started.  I knew nothing.  All my Power User Super Windows Guru Knowledge was utterly useless.  I had to learn from scratch.  And each day, I kept repeating to myself: "Don't worry.  You'll pick up the pace pretty soon.  Next year you'll be a Linux power user" (because a Linux guru was and still is way out of my league).

A year went by and I did not become a power user.

"Maybe next year,"  I thought.

One more year passed.  I told myself the same:  "Surely next year!"

No dice.  Is that what the Linux year really means?

How come I am a perpetual newbie??

And on top of that, the penguin is running so well these days that I on the verge of forgetting the few tricks I managed to learn!  What a shame!!

I feel so bored!  My desktop computer has been running for months without being turned off and the only changes I see are the different DEs I log into not to die of boredom.

Meanwhile.  I hear that Windows users are getting all the fun.

Since I suck as a Linux user, maybe I should go back to Windows after all.

I'll think about it.

Some Statistics about my Linux Box

Seven months ago, I posted the first statistics of my Linux box. Now it's time to check again on it to see how it has behaved in these seven months. I'm not counting the old figures.

A. Number of attacks by trojans, spyware, or malware: 0. AGAIN!

B. Number of Kernel Panics (the Linux equivalent of Windows BSODs): 0

C. Number of system crashes: 0. Again!

D. Number of KDE crashes: 0 (No more crashes after updating my MEPIS 8.)

E. Number of computer freezes: 0. (Again!)

F. Number of programs that crashed: 0.

G. Number of times I've noticed slow system performance: 0. My Mepis has not slowed down at all!

H. Number of times I've explored, modified, or deleted system files making the system crash: 0. (I've learned more or have become more careful.)

I. Number of times I've explored, modified, or deleted system files WITHOUT making the system crash: Hard to say...maybe another 200 times. Certainly it is no less than that.

J. Number of times I actually needed to fiddle with the system: 1. (I had to use Konsole to enable my USB3 hard drive on MEPIS 8. The other systems didn't need it. (I'm not talking about XP. XP needed some special drivers and things for the job but I didn't bother to install them.)

K. Average time for reinstalling the whole system: 10 mins. (without disc imaging)

L. Average time for configuring the system the way I want it to be: 1 hour 30 mins. (without disc imaging)

M. Number of times I've partitioned my hard drive after installing Linux: 6. (to make room for my other Linux systems: Mandriva, Pardus, MiniNO, antiX and finally Mepis 11. Also, I've prepared another partition for Zenwalk!)

N. Minimum number of times I've tried other Linux distros (different from those I tried before): 6.
(Zenwalk, HeOS, Ubuntu, Austrumi, Vector, KNOPPIX)

O. Number of times the other distros I've tried have made my system crash: 0.

These numbers are so boring! ;) So boring that I'm extremely happy to see them! Many zeros, more satisfaction!

Some Statistics about My Linux Box

OK...it's been 5 months since I started this blog and almost a year since I migrated to Mepis Linux 8. Thus, I think it's time to review some real numbers related to its performance:

A. Number of attacks by trojans, spyware, or malware: 0.

B. Number of Kernel Panics (the Linux equivalent of Windows BSODs): 1 (But it was not on my main system. It happened when I was trying a bad burn of a Live CD and took it out of the drive while it was loading)

C. Number of system crashes: 0.

D. Number of KDE crashes: 5 (But KDE recovers itself without restarting the system.)

E. Number of computer freezes: 0.

F. Number of programs that crashed: 1 Kplayer. I decided to use Kaffeine for video playing instead.

G. Number of times I've noticed slow system performance: 0. Mepis still runs as fast as the first time I installed it without my need to flush the cache, restarting or whatever.

H. Number of times I've explored, modified, or deleted system files making the system crash: 2. (When tried to install Compiz and when tried to revert some appearance changes after an upgrade.)

I. Number of times I've explored, modified, or deleted system files WITHOUT making the system crash: about 200.

J. Number of times I actually needed to fiddle with the system: 4. (to enable Japanese typing, to revert some appearance changes after an upgrade, to set up my printer, and to enable virtualization).

K. Average time for reinstalling the whole system: 10 mins. (without disc imaging)

L. Average time for configuring the system the way I want it to be: 1 hour 30 mins. (without disc imaging)

M. Number of times I've partitioned my hard drive after installing Linux: 1. (to make my Linux partition bigger)

N. Minimum number of times I've tried other Linux distros: 11.
(Mandriva, Pardus, BrLix, Puppy, Damn Small Linux, Mint, OpenSuse, Elive, AntiX, Mangaka, Chameleon OS)

O. Number of times the other distros I've tried have made my system crash: 0.

So, in conclusion I must say I am very satisfied with my migration. It was much less painful than I expected and much more rewarding, too. Of course, there's still a lot to learn, but I'm going one step at a time.